


The Envoy

by GitariArt



Series: Rise of the New Heroic Age [4]
Category: Champions: Heroe System, super heroes - Fandom
Genre: Alternate World, Gen, Telepath, alien - Freeform, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-11-09 12:22:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11104488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GitariArt/pseuds/GitariArt
Summary: Details of The Enoy's personal expoits and home world.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The material was authored by Ian L. and Sean R. (not currently members of AO3) and posted here by their request.

Little is yet known of the Envoy’s origins. Although, some hints may be gleaned from the mysterious hero from the stars gifts to humanity [presented at the end of Protectoate #1]

 

From: Nu'Fram Pax known as The Envoy. A native of the planet called Qyanya and charged with ambassadorial duties to Earth.

 

Quanyan diplomatic gifts from Envoy’s ship

As a point of clarification, the events surrounding the Third Great Manager occurred prior to Quanyas discovery of interstellar travel.

 

The gifts are symbolic gestures of appreciation in the event of a successful First Contact with the humans of Earth. The defensive and other specific technological/tactical info was stored in the ships data banks and in the minds of Nu'Fram’s colleagues.

  1. Slow Glass: A large pane (6ft by 6ft) of a thick, framed glasslike substance. Shows what at first looks like a high definition photo landscape of Quanyan jungle, but plants and animals actually move around, appear and disappear in the front, and a faint blurry aura-like light comes out the back. It is in fact a "10 year thick" pane of a meticulously crafted glass-like substance in which light passes through at an incredibly slowed rate. Thus, the viewer sees the image of the light that struck the mirror exactly ten years in the past. Through a mastery of optics and materials Quanyans developed a medium that slows but does not stop or dissipate light. These are used as decorations in cities on Quanya, in its more congested parts, to provide citizens with a "good view" and are a treasured object of trade as the process is both delicate and time consuming and Quanyans are the best skilled with crafting it. 
  2. "Sugar Fruit" from the Deep Tree: Harvested from large trees that grow in brackish waters off of the coastal areas of Quanya. This fruit, which floats on the surface of the water once its ripe, is the size of a large grapefruit, but has the color, texture and structure of a peach except that it is perfectly spherical. Its a major form of travel snack for Quanyans. Deep trees have a viney and deep root system that extend miles below the water’s surface and are nourished both by the sun and geothermal vents in the ocean (which are more numerous on Quanya generally). Upon tasting by a human, it does give off the flavor of a juicy ripe peach.....if that peach were also injected with equal parts vanilla icing and butter. It is almost sickeningly sweet to the human tongue and has a high caloric value, came about through both luck and some genetic selection over time by Quanyans, Trees are large and well cared for by Quanyans in coastal groves, who give it an almost mystical reverence. 
  3. A "Clay-Hewing Engine", A black, VCR sized mechanical device with 5 buttons and " holographic" interface. When activated it opens to reveal small but powerful digging and hose-like appendages along with several small but powerful laser projectors and floats in the air while it works. When given proper instructions (in the written Quanyan language as presented by the interface) the device can be set in the center of a barren patch of soil and build a small house around the area by collecting, moistening, piling, shaping, and then superheating (with lasers) the soil underneath it to create a small, single story 2-3 room house like structure, made entirely of an iron-strong form of ceramics. The machine does this from the bottom up and take 1-3 hours to do so depending on the size and intricacy of the design it’s given. It uses the soil around it to use it, but the effect is not unlike a giant lazer generated 3D printer. Does this fast, but not at a speed that would be useful in combat and can only build small-ish sized buildings, though more elaborate models exist on Quanya. Powered by a battery with a limited lifespan.
  4. The pen of the Third Great Manager: A historical artifact belonging to the 3rd planetary leader of Quanya following its "hand times" roughly 1000 years ago,Quanya was space-faring. Not as notable as the First Manager (who brought peace to the planet) but still respected for his civil projects, in particular creating the system that moved and isolated the more monstrous creatures on the planet (such as the giant land leech, which has similar draining abilities to Quanyans, but is bigger, stupider, and hungrier and looks like a giant slug) to uninhabited areas where they survive but are fenced off from Quanyan cities and villages. The pen still works (impressive given its age) but is otherwise unremarkable by Earth standards, picked because it represents a time Quanya acted as one against a common threat, much like it hopes Earth will do. 



 

 

 


	2. Rift and Away

As the severly desiccated bodies shambled out of the undulating curtain of pitch darkness, the adventuring party snapped into action. Paladin Marchet, of course, strode forward to take position between the undead threat and the rest of the party. Zorman the fledgling wayarumm tadrus ordered his two and Grayson’s one hireling to a safe distance with the spare jub-jubs and Scuttles (the group’s pack giant scarab).

                   The score or more of the dehydrated corpses were blessedly not nearly as threatening as they at first seemed. Certainly Qadira and Goreth weakened the foe

s, with expertly placed arrows, while Zorman and Amon called upon their magics to incinerate a few. Greatest thanks was to the wisely chosen disciples of Thoth and Re-Horakte, though. The undead horde was identified by cleric-malcenvoker Grayson as ashen husks and then almost completely turned away by the combined faith of Grayson, Cynd, and Marchet.

                   Only one of the zombie-like husks withstood the holy trio, to unleash it’s inner swarm of biting black-flies. The flies proved more troublesome than their host undead, surrounding Marchet, Thoth’s acolyte Cynd, and masterful archer Qadira. The paladin stepped away unfazed, while the latter two suffered uncontrollable retched and could barely stumble out of the cloud of insects. Once their allies were clear, Amon called lightening and Zornam channeled a beam of five intense energies to eradicate the bugs.

                   Still under the effects of Grayson’s spell, to see in unnatural darkness, sneaky Cynd re-entered the veil of blackness. The Elf hoped to verify that the remaining ashen husks had simply run off the cliff, to plunge back into the planar rift and Tartarus beyond. Cynd’s hopes were confirmed, though they were also replaced with a greater horror. Returning to the relative brightness of the desert night, Cynd reported, “Run! Everyone must run now!” As the part moved to comply they sought further clarification and the elf said, “Two hideous fleshless creatures are climbing towards us fast! Stop talking and run!”

                   All of the adventurers were able to mount up and start galloping away. Although, Marchet did make certain to help Cynd, as the last encountered ally. The group wasn’t quite fast enough, the two creatures burst from the black veil, in a blur of unhealthy pick exposed muscle. The humanoid forms paused just long enough to vomit impossibly large cones of bile and acid, severely wounding Cynd and Zorman and their jub-jubs.

                   With the threat fully present in the world Marchet’s moral code demanded that he stand to destroy them. The rest of the party rallied to their paladin’s side. However, most were ready to flee as soon as Marchet was incapacitated enough to drag him away.

                   “By Holy Thoth’s Quills and Pinions!” Grayson exclaimed in fascinated horror. “Those are rawbones, or at least, that’s the closest Gyptian translation from Abyssal!” The priest then warned his allies. “Not only are they fast and do that acid vomit thing, they also use their entrails as lassos. Plus, they’re stupid tough. Only silver or magic weapons will harm them… Oh, and they’re immune to the effects of cold.”

                   Even as Grayson explained, the others acted against the rawbones. Amon called forth a cactus-pricker profusion of entangling vines and tendrils, trapping the undead atrocities in the center of a wide and snarled patch. Goreth handed out the special silver tipped arrows he had purchased, then he Qadira, Cynd, a Marchet let fly. Not wanting to burn away any of Amon’s vital restraints, Zorman provided only distracting magical damage as support. Grayson, similarly, beseech Thoth to materialize a fiendish bison, which drew the undead’s ire, while the party torn them asunder from a distance.

                   With the immediate threats vanquished, the party made a more overall assessment of the rift and it’s black veil. Amon transformed into a crow, while Grayson called forth a fiendish hawk. Marchet bristled at the unholy twisted version of is god’s symbol, but said nothing. The magical birds verified the tear in reality was roughly a mile long and two-hundred feet  wide. Furthermore, flying within the darkness did not cause pain, in the way that walking on the blackened sands had done.

                   Most exciting, from Zorman’s point of view, was that several miles beyond the rift was the highly reflective sea of glass. A seemingly literal expanse of vitrified desert surrounding a city. A city which Zorman simply assumed was the undead citadel, thus supposedly offering the location of both the quest to gather treasure from the unholy unloving and the chance to secure a manticor for the sorcerer’s bargain back in Luxor.

                   Moving well away from the veil of darkness, the party traveled north to detour around the planar hole. As day approached, Qadira spotted disturbing tracks left by as yet unseen predators. So, the half-elf ranger detoured the group further north and east (rather than the originally intend west), in hopes of finding a more secure location to rest for the excessively hot daylight hours.

                   Qadira’s instincts proved fruitful, as the party came upon a walled village of oddly bee-hive shaped mud buildings. Before the adventurers’ could reach the wall, however, a band of astride rose from the sand to vet them. The adventurers’ spoke civilly and acted peacefully enough to garner themselves access to the village.

                   The village turned out to consist almost entirely of booka shepherds, small statured gray-skinned pacifists. While cautious, the booka were polite and happy enough to accept gyptian coin for lodging and services.

                   The group spilt up to shop and speak with the locals. Cynd found that the booka had at least one truly exceptional leatherworker. Thanks to the astride presence in the village, the leather-smith even had a suitably sized set of master-crafted armor for the elf to purchase.

                   After an hour or so, the party reconvened at the village’s one inn, where they compared notes on what they learned, before bedding down for the day. The booka were vary aware of the rift, which had appeared fifty years earlier. Zorman was able to confirm from his research in Luxor that Zaria had only ascended to Pharaoh twenty years ago, so at least this one horror was not Her fault. In fact the cause of the rift was know to e related to the cause of the sea of glass. Specifically the city within the glass had been at war with necromancers from the citadel to the south and the final magics involved decimated the city melting the sands around it to glass and opened the planer gap.

                   The rift had started fairly small and grew rapidly as more and more mortal lives fell prey to the negative energies and creatures within. Once that connection was made the rift seemed to stabilize, as fewer  and fewer living things would approach.

                   Several of the party members were heartened to see a connection between the rift and the other two locations. It at least offered a two places to start looking for a cure to the planar wound would. Although, Zorman was mildly disappointed to learn that the undead and the manticor were in two distinctly separate places. The sorcerer had been entertaining hopes of saving a manticor from an undead assault, thus offering leverage for convincing the manticor to do as Zorman requested.

                   As it was the adventuring party agreed that striking out for the undead citadel was most likely to be most useful. Definitely offer opportunities for  smiting evil, almost certainly providing treasure to collect, and a chance to discover how to seal the rift.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A [compendium](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7469652) can be viewed for supplemental data. There are also maps: [Gytios](http://gitariart.deviantart.com/art/Gyptios-Map-621278934) and [known oases](http://gitariart.deviantart.com/art/Gyptios-Oases-Map-621281093)


End file.
